The highest bid received was 96.15
percent of IBM prices which is 20
times more than the reserve price.

The government will earn revenue in
excess of Rs. 11,000 crore from a single block which surpasses the revenue of
all previous non-coal mineral blocks.

Kesla-II block is situated in the Tilda Tehsil
of Raipur
district and covers over 357
Ha in area with an average grade of 43 per cent CaO.

The block is located at a convenient
distance of 40 km
from Raipur.

The tender was floated on in February
and the last date of submitting bids was April 7.

The reserve price of Kesla-II was fixed
at 5 percent of IBM prices and the
Floor Price was 21 per cent of IBM
prices.

This figure is more than the amount of
Rs. 8,215.8 crore raised by the auction of Ghoraburhani-Sagashi iron ore block
in Odisha, the highest revenue earner till date.

Over Rs. 9,967 crore would accrue to
the government as bid-revenue and over Rs.1,900 crore through Royalty, DMF and
NMET.

Over 600 bids have been received from
the parties interested in winning the mining lease for the Kesla-II block.

Under the able guidance of Chief Minister Raman Singh, who also holds the mining
portfolio, DGM, Chhattisgarh has broken the national record of obtaining the
highest bid for any limestone block, previously, held by Rajasthan at 67.94
percent of IBM prices for its
limestone block of Nagaur district.

Secretary Subodh Kumar
Singh said that the
bids were invited on the condition that it would be used for Clinker/Cement
plants.

Notably, Chhattisgarh had also earned
the distinction of conducting the first ever successful non-coal mineral
auction in India
in February, 2016 with the auction of Karhi Chandi
limestone block.

It is also the first and only state in India to
successfully auction a Gold mine.

Chhattisgarh's achievements in the
first round of auctions were covered by international news agencies. In the
first phase, Chhattisgarh auctioned three mines from which it is expected to
receive more than Rs. 4,800 crore over the lease period.

To bring in transparency in the
allocation process, the MMDR (Amendment) Act, 2015 stipulated auction as the
mechanism of allocation. Since then, over 20 blocks have been successfully
auctioned across various states.

-------------

"Chhattisgarh
auctions India's
most expensive limestone block" published in Times Of India